Conclusions and recommendations
The Pathfinder Programme
1. The
target set in the ODPM's five year housing plan to reduce the
gap between those areas with low demand and the rest by a third
by 2010, and to eradicate the problems by 2020 is welcome. However,
the programme requires a more detailed set of objectives and an
endview by which progress can be measured. (Paragraph 14)
2. Each Pathfinder
initiative is developing its own strategy to meet the distinctive
problems of its area. To assess the overall impact of the Housing
Market Renewal Initiative, and whether the targets have been achieved,
comparable data are required from each Pathfinder. (Paragraph
15)
3. Pathfinder initiatives
need to develop solid and comparable housing market data so that
progress can be measured. At present they are using a range of
different indicators, at different geographical levels and over
different time frames. The Pathfinder programmes need a realistic
view of the future market structure that should specify the range
of property types and values envisaged to achieve sustainable
neighbourhoods in healthy and thriving housing markets. All the
Pathfinders need to develop robust indicators to measure changing
levels of resident satisfaction with their area and the quality
of services provided to assess whether more sustainable communities
are being created. (Paragraph 16)
4. The Government
acknowledges that it will take up to 15 years to tackle failing
housing markets or undertake market restructuring and many of
the mechanisms such as compulsory purchase orders have a long
lead-in time before taking effect. The Government should make
long term funding commitments to the Housing Market Renewal Initiatives
to give them and their partners the confidence that they can enter
into long-term agreements. (Paragraph 19)
5. Some demolition
is required but there is a risk that this initiative will be seen
as a major demolition programme, which will repeat the mistakes
of previous clearance programmes that destroyed the heritage of
areas and failed to replace it with neighbourhoods of lasting
value. The Government needs to set out clear procedures for the
Pathfinders to follow when deciding which housing should be demolished
and how the various options for refurbishment and redevelopment
should be considered. The potential heritage value of the housing
and its contribution to regenerating neighbourhoods should be
considered an important part of any appraisal but houses should
not be preserved for the sake of heritage if there is not the
demand for them. The differential level of VAT on new-build housing
and refurbishment schemes makes demolition more commercially attractive.
The ODPM should put pressure on the Treasury to harmonise VAT
on new-build and refurbishment housing schemes. (Paragraph 24)
6. CPOs take a long
time to process notwithstanding the recent Government reforms.
Local authorities and the Planning Inspectorate need to prepare
for the volume of CPOs, which the Pathfinders are preparing. There
is currently a shortage of staff with experience of CPOs in local
authorities. At the very least the ODPM should prepare basic good
practice guidance, which is simpler than its current technical
manual. (Paragraph 29)
7. With CPOs taking
several years to process, Pathfinders need to be established on
a long-term basis with funding commitments to implement the orders
when they have been confirmed. Current three-year funding allocations
are insufficient. We recommend that the Government make indicative
allocations to Pathfinders for at least six years. (Paragraph
30)
8. There has been
an overall drop in the number of empty homes in some of the areas
which may be significant. The reasons are not clear and the scale
and duration of the market upturn are not yet known. It is important
that the Pathfinder programmes secure good housing market data
and an understanding of the factors driving the market. Regional
bodies and local authorities also need to have in place effective,
accessible and up-to-date systems of monitoring market trends,
so that changes in demand and in market 'hot spots' and 'cold
spots' can be readily identified and programmes adjusted. (Paragraph
35)
9. If there is strong
evidence that the rise in housing demand is sustained and not
just the result of an artificial boost to the market due to speculative
activity, the Pathfinders should review their demolition programmes
as a matter of urgency and concentrate on neighbourhood management
and housing refurbishment. Housing markets are dynamic, and the
ODPM should allow the Pathfinders considerable flexibility to
review their programmes as demand changes. (Paragraph 36)
10. Pathfinders need
to ensure that there is a ready supply of affordable housing.
The programme of demolition and redevelopment needs to be carefully
planned to ensure that there are no interim shortages of affordable
housing to the disadvantage of existing and incoming households.
(Paragraph 37)
11. The Government
has included the Pathfinder programme as part of its Sustainable
Communities Plan. To demonstrate its commitment to creating sustainable
communities, we recommend that the Government issue new guidance
setting out how Pathfinder initiatives should consult with local
communities to enable input at the earliest stages before any
decisions are taken to demolish housing. Many of the areas need
to increase their populations to make them viable. Pathfinders
should consider how this is planned to ensure sustainable communities.
Demolition and refurbishment plans should be part of an integrated
regeneration strategy for an area agreed as widely as possible.
The Enquiry by Design process used in Whitefield, Lancashire offers
one model which could be widely replicated. (Paragraph 42)
12. We recommend that
the Government issue guidance on how Pathfinders and local authorities
support communities during the period of transition as neighbourhoods
are refashioned, including examples of best practice. Many of
the homes being compulsorily purchased and demolished are privately
owned. Support should be offered in all Pathfinder areas to homeowners
whose homes are compulsorily purchased so that they can get a
new mortgage. (Paragraph 48)
13. The Pathfinder
initiatives' ability to fund revenue projects is very restricted.
The Government should allow Pathfinders to use a significant proportion
of their funds for community support or provide funding through
local authority grant mechanisms explicitly targeted at helping
meet the community costs of market renewal. (Paragraph 49)
14. Low demand affects
many areas but part of the solution lies in creating sustainable
neighbourhoods with high quality services. The problems in many
of the neighbourhoods are caused by the poor quality of the environment
and failing public services as much as the condition of the housing
and economic collapse. As neighbourhoods are redeveloped, there
will be variations in the level of population which could, due
to the funding formula, affect the grants available. Rather than
cutting funds to areas, additional transitional support is required
in some areas to improve facilities and thereby create a more
attractive and sustainable neighbourhood as an incentive for new
residents to move in. (Paragraph 54)
15. The ODPM needs
to secure commitments from the Departments for Education and Skills,
and Health, and the Home Office that the level of funding can
be sustained as housing is redeveloped and population declines
for a temporary period. Commitments are required to provide funds
for facilities in advance of new populations moving in to the
neighbourhoods. (Paragraph 55)
16. Regional strategies
need to be aligned to ensure that efforts to revitalise failing
housing markets are maximised rather than hindered by promoting
competing developments in other areas. The Government needs to
issue guidance to regional planning bodies and the RDAs, emphasising
the importance of prioritising the needs of areas with low housing
demand. (Paragraph 61)
17. Economic collapse
is a major cause of low housing demand which will only improve
if links to economic development are stronger than at present.
Many of the areas with low demand will benefit only to a limited
extent from the Northern Way initiative as they are on the fringes
of the city regions where the RDAs are concentrating growth. The
RDAs should consider how the needs of areas with low housing demand
are addressed outside the core areas, particularly improved transport
links to nearby cities. (Paragraph 62)
Good Practice and Skills
18. Government
should produce an action programme to indicate how the emerging
lessons of the Pathfinder programme, including examples of innovation
and good practice, can be disseminated to a wide audience of public
and private sector agencies, not least local authorities and Registered
Social Landlords. (Paragraph 65)
19. We welcome the
recent announcement of the Academy for Sustainable Communities.
It should give priority to training in the broad range of skills
and expertise required to deliver housing market renewal. This
should include immediate action to meet gaps in knowledge, analysis
and implementation through short courses, networks and briefing
notes. The Government should consider setting up new ways to develop
regeneration skills. New pathways are needed to recruit graduates
into regeneration programmes where they can get the necessary
experience before taking on managerial roles, including graduate
training schemes and work experience placements. (Paragraph 70)
20. We welcome the
Chartered Institute of Housing review of its professional qualification.
We urge the other professional bodies including valuation, surveying,
architecture and planning to review their qualifications and key
areas of competence to reflect the demands of managing regeneration
projects. (Paragraph 71)
Areas outside the Pathfinders
21. The
additional funds targeted at Pathfinder areas are needed to tackle
their low demand problems. The Pathfinders' success will not be
emulated on the same scale in other areas unless additional funds
are identified for them. The Government should consider allowing
local authorities outside the Pathfinders with areas of low housing
demand to recycle their capital receipts where they are selling
housing sites for redevelopment. It is vital that regional allocations
do not take funds away from other areas, by concentrating funds
solely on Pathfinder areas. The Housing Corporation should review
its allocations so that they address the housing needs equally
and achieve a better balance of support across low demand areas.
(Paragraph 76)
22. Measures to tackle
low demand should not be confined to setting up the Pathfinder
initiatives but should be part of a systematic sub-regional appraisal.
The Government should also develop a coherent strategy for intervening
in housing markets so that housing demand is better balanced between
the parts of the greater South East with a severe supply shortage
and the areas suffering from low demand and housing surpluses
in the Midlands and the North. There should be a review of the
extent to which infrastructure necessary to support growth in
South East takes so many resources that it prevents necessary
and similar expenditure in low demand and Pathfinder areas. (Paragraph
77)
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